A zoetrope is a device/technique that uses stripes of black to break up a rapidly moving image. A series of images is spun rapidly and is viewed through a black layer with stripes cut into it which breaks down the rapidly moving image to the eye which makes the eye see the image as an animated sequence rather than a blur of spinning paper.
In 1834, British mathematician William Horner (1786-1837) improved on the idea of the phenakistoscope by putting the images on a strip and placing them in a drum. This enabled more than one person to view the moving image at the same time.
Today zoetropes are used in art and advertising. Subway/underground rail tunnels can be transformed into large linear zoetropes which become viewable as the train speeds past them. This was first done by Bill Brand in 1980 on a subway tunnel in New York which he called a "masstransiscope" and has since been used by companies to advertise in similar ways since. In 2008 a large public zoetrope was set up Venaria, Italy to market Sony's new BRAVIA television techology. Both Studio Ghibli and Pixar have created large 3D zoetropes featuring their characters as art pieces.